It’s Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend which means it’s a perfect time for some Spinoff Odds & Ends: Thanks to Paul Singer’s Elliott Advisors there is a lot of drama swirling around BHP Billiton (BHP) (we will get to that shortly hopefully), but Bloomberg’s Gadfly checks in South32 (SOUHY), the mining giant’s 2015 spinoff. That mishmash of unloved… Read More »
Even once a spinoff is announced it’s not a given that it will be completed. Things change – the company can change its mind, a buyer could emerge and so on and so forth. It’s really not surprising to see a bunch of sales in an environment of rich valuations. Although we try our best to stay on… Read More »
Although Valvoline’s (VVV) IPO was last September, it was still majority owned by its parent company, Ashland Global Holdings (ASH). Not anymore though. The specialty chemical manufacturer completed Step 2 of its Valvoline spinoff on May 12th by distributing its remaining stake in the company to shareholders. Ashland shareholders as of May 5th, should have received 2.745338 shares of Valvoline… Read More »
TEGNA’s (TGNA) Board of Directors officially approved the spinoff of Cars.com and expects the transaction to be completed on May 31st. TEGNA shareholders as of May 18th should receive 1 share of the new company for every 3 TGNA shares owned. Cars.com is expected to trade on the NYSE under the ticker ‘CARS’, which I think we can… Read More »
In case you haven’t noticed, the automotive space is undergoing a few changes. New players are muscling in and the entire supply chain – from the OEMs all the way down to the Tier 3s – are under siege. As a result, everyone is scrambling to secure their part in the automobile of the future which many expect… Read More »
It looks like Rich Battista will get his chance to dilate Time,Inc.(TIME) after all. After months of speculation and talks, beginning just after he began as CEO last fall, Time announced on Friday that its Board had determined not to sell the company at this time and to instead continue pursuing Battista’s strategic plan. What is the key… Read More »
If there is a big corporate trend, you can bet that high priced consultants were behind the idea or have since hopped on board offering advice on how to do it better. As spinoffs have become more popular, BCG has penned a number of articles on spinoffs and corporate divestitures. Their most recent piece notes that although spinoffs… Read More »
In American Psycho, Christian Bale’s character Patrick Bateman famously struggles to get a table at New York restaurant Dorsia. Hopefully brokers will be more accommodating to investors looking to get their hands on stock in Idorsia, which is to be spun out of Actelion (ALIOY) in the second quarter of 2017. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) announced a deal… Read More »
Time, Inc.’s(TIME) brief interlude as a public company following its 2014 spinoff from Time Warner(TWX) appears to be coming to a close. Rumors about Meredith(MDP) interest in some or all of Time have been rampant for years. Speculation that a sale was near increased dramatically with reports last November that a group led by Edgar Bronfman, Jr. had… Read More »
With oil prices remaining in the doldrums, what are oil & gas companies supposed to do to keep share prices up? Some companies have been pursuing asset sales while others are actually expanding into ‘hot’ shale geographies. Investors in PetroChina (PTR), China’s largest oil & gas company, aren’t focused on M&A to boost the struggling company though. Instead… Read More »
In discussing what became Tronc’s(TRNC) failed bid for Us Weekly, we mentioned that LA billionaire and Tronc Vice Chairman Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong was not being renominated to Tronc’s Board. At the time we speculated as to why this was and whether it signified a rift between former allies Soon-Shiong and Tronc Chairman Michael Ferro, Jr. Subsequent event have… Read More »
In the nine years after since a scuttled $6.4 billion acquisition by private equity firm Blackstone, Alliance Data Systems(ADS) has done well, with a current market capitalization of $13.5 billion. The company has attracted the interest of ValueAct Capital which has acquired a 10.5% stake. In an amended 13D filed with the SEC on Monday, ValueAct disclosed that… Read More »
Last month, we reported that Macy’s(M) outgoing CEO Terry Lundgren was working to head off a proxy fight with Jeff Smith’s Starboard Value. Lundgren was said to be looking to Hudson’s Bay Company(HBAYF) as a white knight under renewed pressure from Starboard to spin off or otherwise monetize its real estate. A month later, Hudson’s Bay is out… Read More »
There are worse names in the spinoff world, but Edgewell Personal Care(EPC) is a fairly bad one. Made worse, no doubt, by the company’s tortured explanation of its deep meaning. Edgewell, which owns such personal care brands as Schick, Skintimate, Hawaiian Tropic, and Playtex, spun off Energizer Holdings(ENR) in July 2015. Edgewell stock has underperformed since, recently down 20% from… Read More »
Spinoffs: Once you start, you just can’t stop. Roughly a year after breaking the famed Hewlett Packard into two pieces, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) CEO Meg Whitman is at it again. This time the structure is a bit more complex than a straight spinoff though. It’s our old friend, the Reverse Morris Trust transaction. Real veteran stuff. On… Read More »